Ally Bank New Deposit Promotion: Up to $250 Cash Bonus

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Ally Bank has a new cash deposit bonus that is offering a 1% cash bonus (up to $250) on new deposits on top of their existing interest rates. Valid for both new and existing customers. Given the holding period, this roughly equates to the same total interest paid as a 3-month bank CD at 5%+ APY. Here’s how it works:

Enroll by 3/20/20. You must enroll or you won’t get the bonus. Existing customers must enroll with the same e-mail as linked to their Ally bank account.

Fund account by 3/31/20. This means your account has to be approved, opened and funded by this date. Move at least $1,000 from another financial institution to a new or existing eligible Ally Bank account. Remember, transfers can take up to 3 business days.

Maintain funds through 6/30/20. Your funds need to remain in an eligible Ally Bank account through 6/30/20. Any withdrawals made during this time may reduce your bonus.

Get cash bonus on 7/30/20. Get a 1% cash bonus back on the money you moved, up to $250. That means $25,000 would max out this bonus.

Ally had a similar bonus in 2018, but with higher deposit limits. Note the following regarding which are eligible Ally accounts:

What accounts are eligible?
New or existing Ally Bank Online Savings Accounts, Money Market Accounts, and CDs are eligible for the cash bonus. If you have more than one of these accounts, we’ll consider all of them when calculating your bonus. Remember, the total maximum bonus you can receive is $250.

What accounts are not eligible?
Interest Checking accounts, Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs), accounts owned by a trust, custodial accounts, Uniform Gift to Minors Act (UGMA) accounts, and Uniform Transfers to Minors Act (UTMA) accounts aren’t eligible for the cash bonus. New money you add to these accounts, or money you move from these accounts to your eligible accounts, won’t qualify for the bonus.

Rough math. The current rate on the Ally Online Savings account is 1.50% APY, and the 11-month No Penalty CD is 1.75% APY on $25k+ balances (as of 3/15/20). Given that you can an additional 1% bonus in 3 months, the bonus itself works out to the equivalent of a 4% annualized yield. 1.5% plus 4% = 5.5%, but given the recent market volatility, the savings rate may be cut down to 1% in the coming months. However, the No Penalty CD at 1.75% would be locked in. So you’re looking at the equivalent of a 3-month CD at roughly 5% – 5.75% APY for new money deposits between $1,000 and $25,000.

Should I move money out of Ally and back in to qualify? No, it won’t make any difference as Ally has already thought of that. All new funds added after 3/13/20 will count as new money for this promotion. They’ve already set the start date in the past, so you gain nothing by delaying your enrollment.

Existing customers. As a longtime Ally accountholder, I’m happy again to see that this offer includes existing customers, even if it has to be new money.

Bottom line. Ally Bank has a new promotion to attract new money (or bring back old money). You get a 1% cash bonus (up to $250) on new deposits on top of their existing interest rates. For their savings account, this works out to a 3-month holding period paying roughly 5% annualized interest. You must enroll soon by 3/20/20 and your account must be opened and fully funded by 3/31/20 at the very latest.

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Comments

Hadn’t considered the no penalty CD, but with interest rates falling like a rock, that’s a really good idea. In a few months we may even be back under 1% on high yield savings… So this would be an excellent rearguard action.

Question is does the snapshot of your current holdings occur on March 13, 2020 or the date you sign up? I am going to clarify with Ally. Did this in the past and made almost $1K. However, I had a similar issue in the past where the supervisor provided misinformation. I fortunately, documented the call and the executive office gave me the promo!!!

We base your Cash Bonus calculation on net new money you deposit into your Online Savings account, Money Market account, or CD between 3/13/20 and 3/31/20 (and then keep in your account through 6/30/20). This means money you move out of Ally Bank and then back in won’t qualify for the bonus, and any withdrawals you make from an Online Savings account, Money Market account, or CD between 3/13/20 and 6/30/20 may reduce your bonus amount.

The bonus is just for any new money in any eligible account held there for the minimum noted period (3 months long). You can hold it longer if you want. The no penalty CD is a CD that you can break at any time, so if you wanted you could just hold that for 3 months as well. That is why it can be a good option for this bonus, as you need to keep it there at Ally anyway.

As suspected, they _already_ dropped the CD rate. With the emergency cut by the Fed just this past weekend, I suspect it’ll be cut again very soon under 1%… FYI. I’m trying to get my funds there by Friday before it drops again.

I opened a NP CD with Ally and initiated funding from an external account this past Friday 3/13 when the rate was 1.75. The new account screen showed the 1.75 rate and everything looked good.

When funding finally transferred in yesterday, I was given the new prevailing rate of 1.55.

The wording for the “guarantee” is kind of unclear. It mentions giving you the best rate if rates go up, but I guess it does not apply if rate go down:

“When you open a CD with us, you get the Ally Ten Day Best Rate Guarantee. When you fund your CD within 10 days of your open date, you’ll get the best rate we offer for your term and balance tier if our rate goes up within that time.”

There are people on the internet that is saying they called Ally Bank about getting the 1.55 rate after funding and was told to wait 10 days and it would readjust back to the 1.75 rate that they applied for. I have a couple more days before I can fund so we will see. I always thought Ally Bank was one of the top rated online banks but again we will see. If not after the 3 months I will decided if I will take it out or not. who knows in 3 months the rate might be below 1% the way things are going.

After reading your post it prompted me to call Ally. Your rate will reflect the highest rate after the 10 day period. So even though on the 13th it showed the higher rate and upon funding you indicated the rate went down showing the lower rate, the higher rate will be reflected on the 11th day.. If it does not show the higher rate call Ally.
The rate guarantee is the highest rate in the 10 day period regardless if rates go either direction. I concur with Rock, Ally is a good bank at least based on my experience.

I opened up some NP CD’s on monday when rate for 5k+ was 1.7%, funded it with external account. $ hit today and it is showing 1.5. Was about to call ally but I will wait for 11 days to see if it adjusts back. As I was opening them I tried to get more info on the 10 day rate guarantee, but as others mention, it isnt clear on when rates go down. But it’s still clear, to me anyway, that a 10 day best rate guarantee should be whatever the best rate is during that time.
I still havent funded some of those cd’s since I now realize the bonus is capped at 25k being transferred, not sure what happens if I dont…

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